SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s early yet, but there are signs the dreaded holiday surge in COVID-19 cases may be losing steam, with cases and deaths at a fraction of the levels seen around the same time in 2020 and 2021.
And that’s with nearly all pandemic restrictions lifted and far fewer people heeding pleas from health officials to wear masks and stay “up to date” on the latest COVID vaccine booster.
“I think we can say compared to the last two years at this time of the year, COVID is not nearly the same stress on the health care system and morbidity and mortality on the population,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC-Berkeley’s School of Public Health.
